


Oh, the whole world it is sleeping (but my world is you)

by Anonymous



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Kiss, Fluff, Happy Ending, Imaginary Friends, Light Angst, M/M, Supernatural Elements, Teen Romance, a lot of fluff, junhoon is hERE and boy is it obvious, let me be emotional over soonwoo okAY, oh yeah bohyuk's like 4 when wonu's like 15 so major and not at all canon compliant age gap hnhghgh, soonyoung is simply wonwoo's imaginary best friend :'), this ain't no bing bong feels trip, wonu has freckles don't come at me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-09-29 19:23:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20441225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: "My name?" The boy tilting his head as his brows furrow, "I don't have one." Nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders without a care in the world, scooting closer on his knees to study the smatterings of freckles splashed across the other's face.Wonwoo nervously pushing his glasses higher up on the bridge of his nose, his cheeks going a rosy pink under the boy's curious gaze. His palms sweaty as he clears his throat, the boy drawing back with a confused expression. "Wha-""Well don't you want one?"(an imaginary friends!soonwoo au)





	Oh, the whole world it is sleeping (but my world is you)

**Author's Note:**

> okay so there's this one artist on insta /@maiyumi00 who draws hella rad soonwoo fanart and she mentioned she was cool with getting gifted fics so yep that's exactly what i did😌
> 
> ajskkdlff i love soonwoo and this idea hit me outta nowhere so you know i had to write it  
oh, and the title is taken from the lyrics of The Paper Kite's "Bloom"
> 
> *it's an imaginary friends au for lack of a better word honestly??? like soonyoung maybe existed maybe he didn't, the gang + wonu n bohyuk don't really know*

"Hyung," Bohyuk's tiny hands pulling on Wonwoo's tragically outdated Pokémon patterned bedspread, "Hyung wake up!" Wonwoo groaning as he rolls over and away from his pest of a baby brother, face buried in his pillow as he tries fruitlessly to fall back asleep, though to no avail. And maybe it's because he's just woken up, maybe it's not, but Wonwoo swears he hears a giggle that_ isn't_ Bohyuk's come from somewhere in the room.

"Yeah hyung," A new voice suddenly chirps up, Wonwoo scrambling up into a sitting position so fast that he knocks Mr. Baloo (his teddybear) to the floor. "Wake up!"

* * *

"So you mean to tell me that he just randomly showed up at your house?" Jihoon thoughtful expression much too serious for a babyfaced freshman like himself to be wearing, Junhui happily babbling with the aforementioned weirdo, his lemon-yellow hair a stark contrast to the Chinese's mop of dark locks. Bohyuk watching the latest episode of _Sailor Moon _on the couch next to the two, apparently not minding being sandwiched in between the two chatterboxes.

"Yeah, pretty much," Wonwoo replies, taking a bite of cereal as his gaze flickers back to the blonde haired boy sitting just a few feet away from him. "Bohyuk said that he found him cuddled up next me actually," Jihoon shuddering as Wonwoo takes a sip of his juice, the act of physical affection something the tiny boy could never seem to stand.

"Gross," He says, "But do continue," And Wonwoo rolls his eyes, opening his mouth to say some snarky comment when the trio watching TV burst into laughter, Jihoon mumbling something about _"that idiot__," _though there's no denying the fondness that he speaks those words with. (Well, if you squint hard enough that is.)

"As I was saying," Wonwoo tries again, "He just appeared. Like that's seriously all we know."

"Weird," Jihoon murmurs more so to himself than to Wonwoo, "So what's his name then?"

"Bro I just told you that we literally know nothing about him, like _nothing._" Jihoon's nose wrinkling in distaste, to which Wonwoo simply hums, for he knew that doing so would piss the younger off more. (It's all fun and games until Jihoon comes at you with his old little league baseball bat.)

"Don't fucking call me that!" Wonwoo shooting him a deadly glare as he gestures to Bohyuk, who's ears are currently being covered by Junhui's hands. "S-Sorry,"

"It's fine, just act as nothing happened and he's none the wiser." Jihoon smiling faintly at the notion, "But you're right, maybe I should ask him what his name is." Jihoon muttering an _"I told you so" _underneath his breath, Wonwoo hopping out of his chair and plopping himself down on the carpeted floor just in front of the television, something his mother always scolded him for, saying it'd only make his eyesight worse.

His action catching the boy's attention as he'd hoped for, lemonhead's fringe falling into his eyes as he wriggles his way out of Junhui and Bohyuk's grasp to join Wonwoo, who's heart is thumping so wildly against his chest he's sure it'll leap right out of his mouth if he even dares to speak. But it's now or never, Wonwoo mustering up all the courage he has for what he's sure is the stupidest question he's ever had to ask.

"What's your name?" The boy blinking owlishly as he just stares at Wonwoo, who readies himself to ask the question again. "What's-"

"My name?" The boy tilting his head as his brows furrow, "I don't have one." Nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders without a care in the world, scooting closer on his knees to study the smatterings of freckles splashed across the other's face.

Wonwoo nervously pushing his glasses higher up on the bridge of his nose, his cheeks going a rosy pink under the boy's curious gaze. His palms sweaty as he clears his throat, the boy drawing back with a confused expression. "Wha-"

"Well don't you want one?"

"A what?" Wonwoo resisting the urge to facepalm, lemonhead over here proving to be just as stupid as a certain Wen Junhui. (A thought Wonwoo keeps to himself lest he wants an angry Jihoon mauling him.)

"A name you dumbass!" A lightbulb going on over the blonde's head, his eyes curving into crescents as he laughs.

"Oh yeah, like you and Hyukkie!" He squeals excitedly, "Yeah! I want one of those!" Sheepishly scratching at his cheek when Junhui and Bohyuk shush him, pointing at the TV. The living highlighter falling silent before turning back to Wonwoo with an eager expression on his face, which quite frankly unnerves the shit out of the brunette.

"Stop staring at me, it's creepy." Wonwoo telepathically pleading for Jihoon to swoop in and advert the boy's attention elsewhere, but the former child prodigy just snuggles closer into Jun's side, a once in a blue moon occurrence that has Junhui frozen out of a weird mixture of arousal and fear. (Looking back, Wonwoo's thankful for Junhui's weird pre-teen horniness.)

"Give me a name, and I will!"

"Do it yourself!"

"Please? I promise that I'll shut up if you do-"

"Soonyoung," Wonwoo exasperatedly sighs, "Your name is Soonyoung."

* * *

_"Hey, Wonu," Soonyoung perched on the edge of the bathtub as he watches the taller boy brush his teeth, "Why do you and Hyukkie enjoy eating those red, crown-wearing orbs so much?" Wonwoo arching a brow at the blonde's weirdly worded question, calmly spitting and rinsing his mouth out as he waits for further elaboration on the matter. "You know, the orbs with way too many seeds for one to possibly pick out in a single sitting—those thingies."_

_"You mean pomegranates?" Soonyoung's eyes lighting up as he enthusiastically nods his head yes, "You're asking why I like to eat pomegranates?"_

_"Yeah!" He says, "What's so great about them anyway?" Wonwoo drying his hands off on a nearby hand towel, contemplating just how exactly he should go about answering his friend's question._

_"They taste good?" Wonwoo vaguely shrugs, "Shit man I don't know,"_

_"Well, then what do they t-"_

_"Why don't you just try one yourself Soonie?" He asks, "I can probably bribe Junhui to pick up a few when he goes on his weekly shopping trip to stock up on milk tea."_

_"I appreciate the gesture Nonu, but I can't."_

_"What do you mean you can't? It's really no problem for me to-"_

_"I mean that I can't eat. Like my body physically won't allow me to," Soonyoung fidgeting as he does his best to explain, "That's why I thought I'd ask you."_

_"Oh,"_

_"Yeah, I'm sorry-"_

_"No, it's fine. Don't apologize Soonie." Wonwoo holding a hand out to the shorter after hanging his towel back on the rack, "I guess we'll just have to go to Hyukkie for help then."_

* * *

"Is he part of the gang now?" Mingyu asks when he comes over after karate practice, Soonyoung having watched the two with stars in his eyes, that adorably awestruck expression of his never leaving his face. Soonyoung chattering away as they walk home, pleading to join in on the fun the next time Wonwoo had karate, the brunette looking away from his puppy dog eyes with a sigh.

"Yes Gyu, he's one of us now." Soonyoung sound asleep on Wonwoo's bed as the pair plays video games, "Unfortunate as that may be."

"Cut him some slack you nerd," Mingyu laughs, his canines on full display as he shoots the older a smug grin, "I saw the way you looked at him when you thought I was off being my usual stupid self."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Wonwoo says, thankful they decided to turn the lights off to let Soonyoung sleep, for he’s sure his cheeks are flushed pink, "He's just as annoying as Junhui!"

"Sure Jan," Mingyu sniggers into his palm as his pikachu faints, "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

* * *

And so spring grows into summer, the seasons seamlessly blending into one another as the Soonyoung-shaped hole Wonwoo wasn't even aware his heart had possessed is slowly but surely filled. The blonde taking his place beside the taller as though he'd been by Wonwoo's side since birth.

Soonyoung throwing himself at Wonwoo when the last day of ninth grade rolls around, Junhui following suit as he launches himself at an unsuspecting Jihoon, Minghao and Mingyu cackling like madmen as they watch their tiny hyung turn tomato red. Wonwoo's heart beating so fast he fears that it'll beat right out of his chest, the feeling of being wrapped in the warmth of another human being—_no,_ of being wrapped in_ Soonyoung's warmth_ giving the nearly fifteen-year-old an inkling as to what true, genuine love felt like. Of what-

"You okay there hyung?" Minghao asks when the older fails to follow the rest of the group in chasing after the Yoon family's hellcat—an ancient-looking tabby cat who's ever so appropriately named _Angel_—on their walk from the bus stop to Jihoon's place.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He answers, "Just thinking," The Chinese boy smirking as he jogs back to match his pace with Wonwoo's, neither really caring if they were the last ones to make it to Jihoon's, the sun already beginning to set as the baby blue sky simmered down to a peaceful mixture of orange, pink, and purple.

"About what?"

"About how I'm gonna have to deal with you and Gyu's idiotic selves next year," Wonwoo smoothly replies, pushing his glasses up out of habit, "And about how Junhui's probably got blue balls from the number of times Hoonie's unintentionally cockblocked him."

"HYUNG!"

"What? I speak only the truth and nothing but the truth." Grinning lazily when Minghao's elfen ears turn pink, "Which means I also know about your not so little crush on-"

"Oh my God shut up hyung!"

* * *

_"Soonyoung?" Wonwoo calls, blinding reaching for his glasses when he notices the blonde missing from his (read; their) bed, the spot where he once lay still warm to the touch and everything, "Soonyoung?" Fear bubbling in his chest as he slips out from under the covers, silently tiptoeing out of his bedroom and down the hall to where he'd usually find Soonyoung, his heart dropping to the pit of his stomach when he sees the window seat cubby not to be holding his favorite lemonhead goofball._

_Wonwoo swallowing back the bitter taste in his mouth as he checks every one of Soonyoung's favorite hiding spots, only for there to be no signs whatsoever of the mysterious boy who's waltzed right out of Wonwoo's life just as quickly from which he came. Wonwoo not even realizing that he's crying until teardrops are rolling down his cheeks and onto his clothing, the front of his nightshirt dampening with the tears that he just can't seem to stop, his shoulders shuddering as he silently sobs for a boy who maybe wasn't even there to begin with. For a boy who holds the other half of Wonwoo's heart._

_A boy who Wonwoo now knows with certainty that he loves—a boy who’s managed to slip through his fingers._

* * *

“Hyung!” Bohyuk’s tiny body tackling Wonwoo’s half-asleep form, “Hyung wake up!” Wonwoo simply burrowing deeper under the covers as Bohyuk proceeds to tickle his beloved big brother, a frown coming to the youngster's face when he doesn’t receive any of the usual moans and groans he was met with, let alone an indication that he was even heard. His lower lip starting to wobble when he remembers the reason behind barging into his brother’s room (uninvited of course) to begin with.

“H-Hyung,” He hiccups, thumb going to his mouth as he starts to sniffle, “Soonie left.” Bohyuk full-on wailing as he realizes his favorite playmate is gone, Wonwoo pushing the sheets off of him as he takes Bohyuk into his arms, gently rocking his baby brother back and forth as he hums the same tune Soonyoung would always hum to him when he couldn't sleep.

"Shhh, Hyukkie," Wonwoo coos, "Soonie didn't leave, he's just off somewhere doing something probably dumb and probably dangerous." Though Wonwoo knows deep down that this isn't the case, no matter how much he wished it were. "He'll be back eventually, I promise." Pressing a kiss to the crown of Bohyuk's head as his own eyes start to grow watery once more, struggling to swallow the lump that's formed in his throat.

"R-Really?"

"I know so Hyukkie."

* * *

But as summer turns to fall and then to winter, Wonwoo starts to believe his words less and less.

So he buries himself in his schoolwork to dull the pain, isolating himself from Junhui and Jihoon to the point where the two have to physically drag him out of the house. Little Bohyuk planting candies in his big brother's lunchbox on especially hard days, unknowingly succeeding in getting Wonwoo to smile when he leaves behind lemonheads, for reasons that are pretty much self-explanatory. The obnoxiously yellow candy much like its human counterpart, a bit extreme at first, but eventually grows on you. ("Like a parasite!" Junhui cheekily proclaims, earning himself a flick to the forehead from Jihoon.)

"Lemonheads? Again?" Junhui watching as Wonwoo pops the candy into his mouth with a shrug, "Isn't that like the fourth time you've had them this week?"

"Maybe?" He replies, "I don't keep track of what type of candy Hyuk's leaves for me each day," Jihoon thoughtfully munching on some potato chips as he mentally goes through the past week and the treats Bohyuk's left behind for his big brother.

"Jun's right for once," Jihoon ignoring the raven's offended spluttering as he counts down the days of the week on his fingertips, "Yeah, you've had lemonheads from the tenth of November to the thirteenth of November_—_which is to say from Tuesday to Friday."

"What do you mean for once?!"

"Hmm," Wonwoo staring down at the individually wrapped candies with an unreadable expression on his face, "Guess we're running out of other candies then."

"Or maybe this is the universe trying to tell you something?" Jihoon suggests, stomping down hard on Junhui's foot when he has the nerve to snort.

"Nah, Hyuk's just slacking." Wonwoo says with a wave of his hand, "And since when did you believe in fate anyway? God, you just get weirder by the minute-"

Jihoon promptly stomps down on Wonwoo's foot too.

* * *

"Maybe he wasn't meant to stay, you know, like a guardian angel or something." Minghao gently painting Bohyuk's hands with yellow paint as the four-year-old squeals with delight, Wonwoo looking up from his phone when the Chinese boy suddenly speaks, the two (Jihoon still stubbornly insists he's an extrovert) introverts of their little gang having only grown closer in the weeks following Soonyoung's disappearance.

"But don't guardian angels take their leave when their mission is done? Don't they only leave when the human being that they're looking out for is finally okay?" Minghao left blinking at the desperation that bleeds through the older's words, the ever so guarded hyung he was accustomed to now gone, leaving behind a heartbroken child in his wake. _(Like when Jun-ge lost MingMing....)_

"I-" But Wonwoo cuts him off with a strangled whimper, Bohyuk glancing uneasily between his two hyungs, his paint-covered hands curling into fists.

"Because I wasn't ready, I wasn't ready to be left all alone-" Wonwoo's voice cracking, eyes stinging with unshed tears, "I wasn't, I-"

* * *

_"Hyung, can I ask you something?" Bohyuk's breathing still slightly labored from his nightmare fueled adrenaline rush, Wonwoo humming as he continues to rub circles into his baby brother's back. "Did you love Soonie like how Mama loves Papa?" Wonwoo turning so that they're face to face as he steadies himself to answer Bohyuk's question, the faint amber glow of his dinosaur-shaped nightlight giving the room a warmth that of course has to remind Wonwoo of a particular starry-eyed boy._

_"Love's a strong word Hyukkie," He murmurs, "Why do you ask?" Distractedly carding his fingers through Bohyuk's messy curls, lips pursed._

_"Because Soon-ah looks at you the same way Papa looks at Mama."_

* * *

"That's funny," Jihoon remarks, a shy smile tugging on his lips as he picks up the last of his birthday presents, the crudely wrapped ring box somehow having found its way among the rest of the gang's. "I don't remember Junnie's gift wrapping skills being this shit." Jihoon ignoring whatever Jun was trying to tell him as he carefully tears the wrapping away, though his smile fades when he peers inside.

"Hoonie? What is-"

"It's the pair of earrings I jokingly told Soonie that I wanted when he asked about what birthdays were," Wonwoo's face paling as a shiver runs down his spine, Bohyuk hopping off of Mingyu's lap at the mention of his second favorite hyung, his hope that Soonyoung would someday return still strong as ever.

"Does this mean that Soonyoungie's back? Do you think-" But Wonwoo doesn't stick around to hear the rest of whatever nonsense Bohyuk is spitting now, his eyesight blurring as he runs out the door, not stopping even as his brother starts to cry. As all that matters to Wonwoo at the moment is getting away, away from everything that reminded him of the boy who broke his heart_. Of the boy who still owned his heart._

_(Though deep down he knows that running away from the one you love will only hurt you more in the long run.)_

* * *

_"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry," Soonyoung's voice pained, his eyes glassy as he tugs on the taller's hand, "I didn't want to leave, I swear."_

_"But you did," Wonwoo whispers, tearing his hand out of the blonde's, "You left me—no, you left us. Don't you dare forget about Bohyuk, you hurt him too."_

_ "I know, I know I hurt you guys," Teardrops freely rolling down Soonyoung's cheeks, some catching in his eyelashes too. "And I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry." _

_ "Don't apologize to me, you should be saying your apologies to Bohyuk!" He cries, "God knows you've already hurt the poor kid enough!" _

_ "But what about you? I know I hurt you too-" _

_ "You're so fucking stupid Soonyoung! Can't you see that I've already long since forgiven you?!"_

* * *

"Thank god you're finally awake! I was so worried I'd found your skinny ass too late-" Wonwoo cutting Soonyoung off with a kiss to the lips, Soonyoung's eyes widening momentarily before he melts into it, the brunette straddling him as he deepens their kiss.

"Shut up Soonyoung," Is all Wonwoo says when they finally break apart, "Just shut up."

And for once, Soonyoung does exactly that.

**Author's Note:**

> soonwoo really gets me in my feels and i could probably write on about how much i love them for forever tbh
> 
> anyways, i hope this fic was okay + i pray that i did these boys justice lol


End file.
